Graduation, dropout rates show positive trend

The state's four-year graduation rate has been improving for the past six years, state officials announced Thursday, and Worcester's has seen a similar upward trend over the past five years.

Worcester public schools continue to outpace the urban district average but fall short of the state average, according to figures from the state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.

“While I am pleased that we are making progress, there is clearly much work to do,” Superintendent Melinda J. Boone said in a press release.

Approximately 13 percent of Worcester's class of 2012 dropped out in the four years before graduation day. That figure, like the city's graduation rate, puts the district between the urban and state averages.

Graduation and dropout rates varied across the district's high schools. Worcester Technical High School, for instance, had the highest graduation rate (96.4 percent) and lowest percent of students drop out over four years (1.5 percent). North High was on the reverse end of both statistics, with 57.3 percent of the class of 2012 graduating on time and 21.7 percent dropping out over four years.

North's graduation rate went up over the previous year, but so did its dropout rate. It has been a stubborn number.

Last year, all of the city's high schools except North saw their dropout rates improve. North has the highest percentage of low-income students (81.2 percent) and the highest percentage of special education students (24.8 percent) of any comprehensive high school in the city, but the numbers are not far off those at South High Community School.

South even has a slightly higher percentage of students who are not English proficient, but saw 65.4 percent of its students graduate on time.

District leaders, including Chief Academic Officer Marco Rodrigues, have been working with North administrators and faculty since November to address the graduation and drop-out figures, Mr. Rodrigues said. Their work has included creating individualized graduation plans for 68 at-risk seniors and monitoring all seniors through the end of the school year; restructuring study skills periods to provide more targeted support for students; and, starting March 2, offering afterschool and Saturday sessions for specific students who need more academic help. The school has also created a ninth grade planning team to analyze student work, Mr. Rodrigues said.

In Southbridge, the district had the highest four-year dropout rate (14.4 percent) in Central Massachusetts, but it saw its highest graduation rate (79.3) since at least 2008. The district, which is working with the state, had its accelerated improvement plan recently approved. Tuesday , state monitors said the district was starting to make progress.

Other districts in Central Massachusetts were at the opposite end of the spectrum.

Three schools graduated all of their students: the Advanced Math and Science Academy Charter School in Marlboro, Massachusetts Academy of Math and Science in Worcester and Ralph C. Mahar's new Pathways program, which creates an entry point for students to earn a free associate degree.